Export datum point array to xyz coordinates

I have a good number of points defined using a datum point array. Is
there any way to get the xyz coordinates of all the points other than
measuring each point's position relative to the origin? I tried
exporting to stl, but datum points don't seem to make it through the
translation process. Thanks for the help.

-Mahir

 

What is a "datum point array"?

If it's an array, use the Save button.

Otherwise, you might try
http://www.mcadcentral.com/proe/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=23838
(look at the bottom, get iges_points.zip (.bat))

I'm curious why you'd even try that.
Help for Interface is pretty good.
Maybe I'm not grasping the intent.

 

How about "Save a copy" to IGES or STEP? BTW, get them where? BTW 2: nothing
makes it into an STL file but facets. If you don't see anything in the
export interface about datum features, it probably doesn't export them. In
the future, it might help us to know what you're trying to accomplish as
opposed to your telling us what you think you ought to be doing to get
there. Out of the goals grow the methods. Where are you going; we can help
you get there. But, if you're heading north, taking the polar route and
trying to circumnavigate the globe to get a block south, we probably won't
be able to help you. Except to say, are you sure you want to take the long
way!?!

David Janes

 

I haven't done this in wildfire but it worked previously.

If the data is in the format
12.345 0.678 912.34
that is no axis and single spaces between values and it is in a plain
text file then rename the file to .ibl
then in part - datum points /offst csys without dims/ set coord sys
cartesian
and browse for this file.

This was the note that I made at the time so picks may be different now.
I also found that there is a ceiling to the ibl file size.

 

This is for getting data IN

 

All the information is available when you export to IGES, just scroll down
to the end of the file and look for points.

bob

 

Can you do a feature - info and dump the results to a file?

You will have to trim the junk out of the text file but it should all
be there.

Dave

 

Well, at this point I've already gotten what I need through brute force
methods, but I'm sure there will be another instance where I will need
to export position data from existing datum points. If anyone has any
ideas, I'm always willing to learn a new trick. And to help you help
me, here are some answers to your questions. Thanks.

-Mahir

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

-David Janes

I am creating an obscuration plot that requires me to collect angular
data from the model. My intent is "to get the xyz coordinates of all
the points" of interest, thereby negating the need to manually extract
~80 angle measurements.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

-David Janes

That would leave me in the same position I'm in now. I would have CAD
data that I still need to translate into XYZ coordinates.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Good idea, but when I tried that I didn't get any coordinate data.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Several large assumptions are being made here because we are not looking
over your shoulder and don't see the data you do. Nor do we see what form it
is in. When you say you have an "point array", Jeff asks what it is which
means not only "what" it is but how it was treated. That's an important
point in Pro/e because, very often, the tools used to create the data also
(subtly, like a File menu at the top an interface) lets you save the data.

Thought about Matlab? MathCAD? Something more appropriate to this type of
data? Something that makes prettier color graphs or 3D plots?

Um, have you looked at an IGES file with Notepad? It's just ASCII text data.
Points show up (especially if that's the entire file) as xyz data, lots of
numbers, one coordinate per line. Offset from some coordinate system. Don't
assume, check it out.

David Janes

 

Umm hmmm. Mahir failed to take the "think bait". I've never
seen the term defined but to the best of my knowledge a
"point array", in Pro/E speak, is an Offset CSys Datum Point
set which has a Save button in the definition UI. Points
created by any other method will probably require export to
a neutral format to ditch the original definition references
and parameters transfering ownership to the CSys specified
at the time of export, then parsing and extracting offsets
which is where Brian Adkins' iges_points.bat comes in handy.

A few other possibilities come to mind if the particular
creation method lends itself, though I've never been there
myself; Pattern Table, DG's Feat Info suggestion, copying
from the Design Program, .... In the end I think an export
to a neutral format will almost always prove to be the most
expedient (?).

 

Several large assumptions are being made here because we are not looking

I used the Datum Point Tool (with the three point icon) in WF 3.0.

------------------------------

That's exactly why I'm looking for coordinate data so I can use
whatever program is available to make prettier graphs. However, the
actual data requires CAD construction geometry. In this case I would
use either Excel or Scilab to crunch some numbers and Scilab to create
a polar plot. Excel's not too good at polar plots, and we don't have a
MathCAD or Matlab license (doh!).

------------------------------

You learn something new everyday. I stand corrected and will definitely
take a closer look.

 

hole chart in drawing mode...points....save table as text file

 

Method 1
Usually the most expedient way is to measure from a Csys to each point
using Csys projection method. Open the message log and copy (Ctrl+c)
the relevant lines, paste the data into Excel. I have an Excel macro
to delete the extraneous lines and parse the data into individual
cells (works on any measured data copied from message log). The VBA
code for the Excel macro is provided below. I have this code in a
custom add-in so I can run it from any worksheet, but that's a little
beyond the scope of your question. This method gives you complete
control over which points are measured and the order of the points.

Method 2
You can also save the prt file as an IGES and extract the point data
from the IGES file. There is a config.pro option that allows you to
only export points on visible layers to control which points are
exported. But the order of the points seems arbitrary. I've previously
posted code (VBScript or Perl) that will search an IGES for point data
and create a text file containing only the point x, y, z coordinates.
See this link for a copy of the script:
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.cad.pro-engineer/msg/
21d0754d929914ce?dmode=source&hl=en

I usually use method 1, unless I have a very large number of points
and I don't care what order they are in. Another option I've been
meaning to work on is similar to Method 2 above, but using a Neutral
file. Neutral files include feature names which could help in
identifying the data of interest.

David Parker
West Palm Beach, FL


Sub CleanProEData()
' Deletes rows that do not contain "=" character, and parses data.
Dim i As Integer
Dim rngCell As Range
On Error Resume Next

If Selection Is Nothing Then
Exit Sub
ElseIf Selection.Columns.Count > 1 Then
MsgBox "Data must be in single column.", vbExclamation, "Error"
Exit Sub
Else
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
For i = Selection.Rows.Count To 1 Step -1
If Not Selection.Cells(i, 1).Value Like "*=*" Then
Selection.Cells(i, 1).Delete Shift:=xlUp
Next i
With Range(ActiveCell, ActiveCell.End(xlDown))
For Each rngCell In Selection.Cells
' Trim trailing periods.
If Right(rngCell, 1) = "." Then rngCell = Left(rngCell,
Len(rngCell) - 1)
Next
.TextToColumns DataType:=xlDelimited,
ConsecutiveDelimiter:=True, Tab:=True, Semicolon:=True, Comma:=True,
Space:=True, Other:=True, OtherChar:="="
.TextToColumns DataType:=xlDelimited,
ConsecutiveDelimiter:=False, Tab:=True, Semicolon:=False,
Comma:=False, Space:=False, Other:=False
End With
End If
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub